The background information is believed, at the time of the filing of this patent application, to adequately provide background information for this patent application. However, the background information may not be completely applicable to the claims as originally filed in this patent application, as amended during prosecution of this patent application, and as ultimately allowed in any patent issuing from this patent application. Therefore, any statements made relating to the background information are not intended to limit the claims in any manner and should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any manner.
There have been many attempts to design folding, flexible, or collapsible support structures such as truss and scaffolding systems which may transition between a retracted and a deployed state. Additionally, the concept of providing a support structure that may induce artificial gravity in low or zero gravity environment has been contemplated for some time. However, little is known about support structures configured to be folded or collapsed for transport and deployed in a low or zero gravity environment and configured to induce artificial gravity to assemblies attached to the support structure.
The prior art discloses several structures configured to induce artificial gravity in a low or zero-gravity environment. For example, toroidal satellites with centrals hubs and radial spokes have been designed as have tethered space craft. A space station disposed to rotate around a hub and having a power plant, an observatory, and an air lock has been disclosed. It has also been proposed to tether ships together and set into rotation to provide living quarters having artificial gravity.
However, many of the prior art designs may involve assembly in orbit, with little or no prefabrication on the ground. Consequently, the designs may often be rather monolithic and may lack modularity. Additionally, prior art structures may have undesirable characteristics including undue complexity, inability to move in a coordinated and synchronous manner, lack of compactability, reconfigurability, and multi-functional uses, and high costs.
What is needed is a support structure that overcomes some of the obstacles associated with currently available support structures.